Search

You are here:

>

Paris, 11 March 2014

Africa's pollution in the spotlight

Human activity in Africa significantly contributes to air pollution. However, no detailed data regarding country-by-country pollutant emissions in the continent was available until now. To remedy this, a joint French-Ivory Coast team headed by the Laboratoire d'Aérologie (CNRS / Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier)1 mapped these emissions in Africa for 2005, before estimating them for 2030, using three scenarios. The researchers showed that the climate change models used by the IPCC underestimate Africa's emissions, which could account for 20-55% of global anthropogenic emissions of gaseous and particulate pollutants by 2030. This work, published on 11 March 2014 in the journal Environment Research Letters, will help not only to improve existing climate models, but also to assess the health impacts of pollution in Africa's urban areas.